Culture of ancient Rome

• 1. Stone And Water In The City

  ›

  The city of Rome in the first century AD held a population that may well have exceeded one million people. High-end estimates suggest 3.6 million souls, while low-end figures place it at 450,000. This made it the largest megalopolis of its time. Most residents lived packed into insulae, which were apartment blocks filling the city center. Only the wealthy resided on the elegant Palatine Hill or in country villas. The vast majority of the population lived in these dense urban clusters rather than the countryside.

  Aqueducts brought water to these crowded centers from distant sources. Wine and oil arrived via trade routes from Hispania, Gaul, and Africa. Italian farms supplied vegetables and fruits, but fish and meat remained luxuries for most citizens. A complex logistical task moved food from rural areas to the urban centers. Roman roads and transportation technology facilitated commerce between provinces with efficiency comparable to 18th-century Europe.

  The Colosseum stood as a monumental structure capable of accommodating 60,000 persons. It hosted gladiatorial combats and fights between men and wild animals. The floor could even be flooded to hold mock naval battles for public viewing. The Circus Maximus served as another venue where chariot racing drew massive crowds. These structures defined the physical landscape of daily life.

  134

• 2. Masters And Slaves In Law

  ›

  The pater familias held absolute authority over his family unit. He was the master over his wife if she was given to him cum manu, otherwise her father retained power. His control extended to children, nephews, slaves, and freedmen. He disposed of their goods at will and could even have them put to death. This legal construct formed the center of early social structure dating back to the agricultural tribal city state.

  Slavery existed as part of the social order throughout the Republic and Empire. Most slaves were prisoners of war bought and sold in markets. Roman law considered them moveable property without consistent status protections. Mutilation and murder of slaves remained prohibited by legislation, yet outrageous cruelty continued. Many slaves saved money to buy their freedom or received it for fine services rendered.

  In AD 4, the Lex Aelia Sentia specified minimum age limits for both owners and slaves before formal manumission could occur. Owners had to be 20 years old while slaves needed to be 30. Plebeians lacked legal capacity to make contracts unless they joined a patrician's familia through clientela. Everything a plebeian possessed legally belonged to the gens. Women, slaves, and children were not allowed to vote during the Republic.

  114

• 3. Poets And Philosophers

  ›

  Roman literature began heavily influenced by Greek authors from its very inception. Cato the Elder wrote the first history in Latin despite theoretical opposition to Greek influence. His work Origines chronicles Rome from Aeneas to his own day but is now lost. The Annales maximi filled eighty books recording official state events year by year starting in 123 BC.

  Virgil produced the Aeneid at the request of Maecenas telling the story of Aeneas fleeing Troy. Lucretius attempted to explicate science in an epic poem called On the Nature of Things. Ovid later wrote Metamorphoses using dactylic hexameter verse covering creation to his time. Catullus became the first Roman poet to produce love poetry depicting an affair with Lesbia.

  Cicero's sixteen surviving letters provide pictures of social life during the falling republic. They reveal his personality as vain, vacillating, and snobbish while showing his passion for public life. Quintilian wanted secondary schools to focus on reading and teaching poetry leaving prose writings for university stages. Stoicism founded by Zeno taught that virtue was the supreme good creating ethical urgency.

  21011

• 4. Gods And Emperors

  ›

  Numa Pompilius negotiated directly with gods establishing religious institutions traced to legendary history. Augustus justified one-man rule through a vast program of religious revivalism directing public vows toward imperial wellbeing. Emperor worship expanded traditional veneration of ancestral dead and Genius divine tutelary of every individual. Rejection of State religion equated treason throughout the provinces.

  The Edict of Milan granted liberty to all religions in 313 following Constantine and Licinius agreement. Constantine ruled as sole emperor after defeating Licinius at Battle of Chrysopolis in 324. His formal conversion to Christianity occurred in 312 though he received baptism only on deathbed from Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia in 337.

  In 391 under Theodosius I, Nicene Christianity became official state church excluding all other Christian churches and Hellenistic religions including Roman religion itself. Pleas for tolerance from senator Symmachus died in 402 were rejected. Heretics and non-Christians faced exclusion or persecution while Greco-Roman polytheism declined. Traditional religious hierarchy influenced Christian religion as whole despite the shift.

  95

• 5. Schools And Speeches

  ›

  Formal schooling began around 200 BC with children starting education at age six. Boys and girls learned reading writing and counting over next six to seven years. By twelve they studied Latin Greek grammar literature followed by public speaking training. Oratory commanded respect becoming one objective of education though poor children could not afford it.

  Latin evolved from highly inflectional synthetic language losing case system over time acquiring conventional word orders. Its alphabet derived from Old Italic which came from Greek alphabet. Classical Latin dominates surviving literature while Vulgar Latin dialects evolved into Romance languages beginning around ninth century.

  Greek remained main lingua franca in eastern half of Empire since Alexander the Great while Latin served administration and military. French Italian Portuguese Romanian Spanish flourished as distinct Romance languages growing differences over time. English borrowed heavily from Latin during Middle English period after William Conqueror invaded England in 1066 bringing Anglo-Norman French speakers.

  716

• 6. Engineering And Medicine

  ›

  Roman concrete remains a riddle even after more than two thousand years some structures stand magnificently like Pantheon dome. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio wrote De architectura treating urban planning building materials temple construction hydraulics remaining classic until Renaissance. Civil engineers and architects came from all empire especially Greek-speaking regions responding to Pliny's requests for help.

  Galen of Greek-Anatolian origin inspired Western medicine until at least Renaissance arriving among many physicians from East. Sosigenes consulted by Caesar created Julian calendar while Hero and Ptolemy dominated Roman science for centuries. Papyrus produced in Egypt and parchment named after Pergamon provided writing surfaces from Greek world.

  Jurists Papinian Ulpian Modestinus were not Latin but Eastern figures reorganizing law in Byzantine era. Tribonian from Pamphylia reorganized Roman law itself. New Testament written in Greek with first Church Fathers speaking Greek language. Experts from Egypt Israel Palestine Jordan Lebanon Syria Turkey Cyprus Greece Southern Italy contributed significantly to cultural evolution following conquest of Greek East.

  131517